Should I have quit reading?

I became conflicted while reading How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates about halfway through because the news broke about his less than stellar behavior (i.e. scummy) towards his wife and female colleagues. (Don't even get me started on his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.) I even contemplated marking it as DNF and moving on with my life. Additionally, I didn't feel like I was gaining any new information on the topic of climate change and what we can do to mitigate its effects and continuance. This is more the kind of book that newbies to the topic of environmental sciences and climate change would read to get a handle on the situation. It's full of good data (can't fault the man for thorough research) and is written in a straightforward manner that makes it very readable. He offers solutions both achievable and out-of-the-box to turn the tide so that future generations will not be hit with a deluge of irreversible problems. I was particularly interested in Direct Air Capture which is technology engineered to literally suck carbon dioxide out of the air and store it so that it can be used to generate energy and/or goods that would have required carbon anyway. The goal is to move towards zero fossil fuel emissions but we are a long way from that at this point. Practically, our best bet at this time is to pour money into research and development of technologies which will move us towards products and services that are carbon neutral. (I tell you something I didn't know until reading this book: Cement is not carbon neutral and there doesn't yet exist a cement that can be manufactured without carbon. #themoreyouknow) Conclusion: This is a well-researched book on a topic that more people need to educate themselves about but it doesn't lend a particularly new angle to the discussion. 6/10

Source: Penguin Random House

What I'm currently reading: Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women by Renee Engeln, PhD

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Save the mountain gorillas

Much like when I reviewed Jane Goodall's In the Shadow of Man, I quickly fell in love with the gorillas that Dian Fossey describes in exquisite detail in her book Gorillas in the Mist. (You may have heard of it.) Dr. Fossey moved to the Virungas of Africa (Zaire, Uganda, and Rwanda) to study the mountain gorillas that lived there. That study ended up taking nearly 20 years. However, she wasn't only studying the habits of the gorillas but also the parasites, environment (rainfall), vegetation, and the other animals that lived there (elephants, buffalo, duiker). (Basically, whatever she and her team could study they did to increase their chances of getting more grant money and lengthening their stay.) One of the things that Fossey stressed was that it would take more than passive conservation (tourism) to keep the mountain gorillas alive and thriving. She found that active conservation was the only way to go which meant that she had to employ staff to track down poacher's lairs and destroy their supplies and traps. Basically, she was a bada$$ of the highest caliber and the surrounding villagers had a nickname for her (it wasn't sweet lady of the mountain either). She quickly earned a reputation for not backing down and for doing everything within her power to protect these creatures from imminent extinction (which is looking more and more likely). Between poachers, population encroachment, and decreasing territory for the different gorilla groups there were only 242 mountain gorillas left at the end of her nearly two decade study. There are even less now. Fossey's fervent desire was that governments and the people governed by them would want to conserve these animals because they lived in the area providing the only fresh water source for the region. However, deforestation to make way for increasing numbers of people and farms continued no matter what arguments she put forth. I had heard about this book and its movie adaptation before but it wasn't until I saw Ellen DeGeneres talking about it (on her birthday episode) that I decided to finally pick up the book. I am so glad that I did. Even if you only read the appendices (which are absolutely phenomenal) you'd learn so much about these amazing animals and the land they inhabit. You'd also bear witness to the dedication and passion which Fossey had for her research. I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Gorillas in the Mist and afterward that you do further research into Fossey because it makes it all the more poignant and meaningful (at least it did for me). 10/10

Source: Goodreads

Source: My Hero

What's Up Next: Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

What I'm Currently Reading: juggling 3 books as the mood strikes me.

**If you're interested in buying this book or any books really, you can click here or here. The first will re-direct you to AbeBooks and the second will re-direct you to The Book Depository. These are great websites for purchasing books (AbeBooks carries inexpensive used and out-of-print books and The Book Depository ships free everywhere in the world). Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following either of these links. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Gotta love a good thought experiment!

Some books that you read make you question everything. Alan Weisman's The World Without Us is definitely one of those books. The book seeks to answer the question 'What would happen to the world if humans were to disappear?' I've read books that look at it from the flip side of the coin where humans have destroyed the planet to such a degree that humanity can no longer be sustained. It was interesting to look at the reverse. Weisman looked at the issue from a variety of viewpoints. He looked at the evolution of humans and their impact on the megafauna and megaflora of the planet. His point there was that although much of the animals and plants were eradicated by us, variations of these have survived into present day. Therefore, if humanity were to disappear nature would find a way to carry on and maybe another kind of humanity would take our place. He also looked at the damage we have done through chemical processes (I'm talking nuclear) and whether or not the planet's remaining inhabitants could survive. He went to a variety of places where it was as close to being primeval as possible (Kingman Reef) and also those places which were irrevocably changed by us (Chernobyl). He spoke to scientists of all disciplines (many of which sound like amazing careers that I need to look into immediately). It was a thoroughly researched and thought provoking read and I encourage anyone interested in conservancy and ecology to go and give this book a shot.

Because I just couldn't help myself I grabbed another Phryne Fisher mystery, Raisins and Almonds. (I realized after starting it that I definitely went out of order as I missed a lot of backstory so I do encourage you if you're reading the series to continue with Flying Too High after Cocaine Blues.) This time Phryne has taken a new lover by the name of Simon Abrahams and his father hires her to absolve a woman of murder. The entire affair is mixed up with the Jewish culture of Australia (and the rest of the world actually). Greenwood even included a Yiddish dictionary at the back of the book as it was used liberally throughout the story. I have to be honest here...I didn't find this one as entertaining as the first of the series. The characters weren't nearly as vivid and the mystery itself was pretty dull. However, learning about the Jewish culture was very interesting so I'm going to let it pass with a solid C.

**If you're interested in a book like the ones I've reviewed here, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks. This is one of my favorite websites for purchasing used books. Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made by following this link. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Bees, butterflies, and being a better human being

As long-time readers of the blog know, I love reading and learning about environmental science and what it all means in terms of the conservation of resources. To that end, A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm was a logical choice. (Its predecessor, A Sting in the Tale, which focused on bees exclusively has now been added to the list.) This book focused on Goulson's quest to recreate a meadow with biodiversity of fauna and flora on a plot of land (used to harvest cereal before his purchase) he bought in France. Not only was he hoping to play his part in conservation by starting this project but he was discouraged by the limited resources of his university for conducting wildlife experiments over extended periods of time and hoped this would remedy that problem. He has gone to great lengths to learn as much as he can about the creatures and plants that inhabit his small paradise. Each chapter begins with a small journal excerpt  from the summer months when he and his family live on the property. (These are typically humorous or wistful in turns.) The book was divided into parts which covered his cultivation of the meadow, different plant and animal species and their behavior, his work with bees which was covered in his first book extensively, and ecological conservation. It wasn't written in dry, academic jargon so the layperson should feel comfortable enough to give this book a shot. If you're curious about the mysteries of the natural world or want to dip your toe into conservation/environmental sciences  then I definitely recommend this book to you. (Also, I think we should all read A Sting in the Tale together.)

I love perusing the new additions to the non-fiction section of the library. I've found some real gems there such as the next book up for review: The Great Fire: One American's Mission to Rescue Victims of the 20th Century's First Genocide by Lou Ureneck. This is the story of Asa Jennings, a YMCA worker, working in Smyrna at the time of the Turkish soldiers advance through the city. Many people were killed during this time and many Greek and Armenians fled. However, Jennings stayed and along with a naval officer named Halsey Powell they were able to rescue more than 250,000 people. I know very little about this historical event so I'm very excited to read this one.

A book series that should be made into film

Yep I said it. The Lunar Chronicles should be turned into films. (I just checked to make sure this dream hadn't turned reality yet...it hasn't.) As I mentioned in my review of Cinder, Meyer has created a world where favorite fairytale characters are very different from the stories we read as children. Scarlet is the story of a regular farm girl who discovers that her grandmother has kept a secret from her and now it's gotten her into a lot of trouble. Cue Wolf (who I must say makes Jacob from Twilight a distant memory) to the rescue. He seems to have all the answers as to why her grandmother has disappeared and how this fits into the puzzle regarding the missing Lunar Princess. And we can't forget Cinder who is on the run from the authorities...all of them in fact. Long story short: The sequel didn't disappoint. It delivered an action packed, high energy, emotional rollercoaster that I highly recommend you give a shot. If you enjoyed the first in this series or The Dorothy Must Die series then you'll probably enjoy this one.

Next on deck is A Buzz in the Meadow: The Natural History of a French Farm by Dave Goulson. I was intrigued by this because of the beautiful butterflies on the cover and from the description of the first book that Goulson wrote (and which I fully intend to read as well) about his study of bees. A Buzz in the Meadow is a look at the other creatures that inhabit his farm (where he cultivated the aforementioned bees). It's a conservationist's call-to-arms, I believe. We shall shortly see!